Over the past few years, the ‘Paranormal Activity‘ series has established itself as one of the most inexpensive and reliable horror franchises around. Produced for (non-literal) pennies, they’ve consistently opened strong at the box office, ensuring a fast and efficient turnaround. The latest film, ‘Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones,’ has already accomplished that goal, but it did so without grabbing the number one spot. Sure, people may love found footage demons, but it turns out that they love animated singing princesses more.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

Frozen

$20,722,000 (-27.5)

$6,245

$297,838,000

2

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

$18,200,000

$6,348

$18,200,000

3

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

$16,250,000 (-44.0)

$4,357

$229,634,000

4

The Wolf of Wall Street

$13,400,000 (-27.0)

$5,241

$63,295,000

5

American Hustle

$13,200,000 (-29.5)

$5,242

$88,700,000

6

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

$11,100,000 (-43.5)

$3,258

$109,180,000

7

Saving Mr. Banks

$9,057,000 (-32.7)

$4,292

$59,320,000

8

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

$8,200,000 (-35.8)

$2,806

$345,669,000

9

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

$7,400,000 (-26.5)

$3,453

$407,488,000

10

Grudge Match

$5,410,000 (-23.0)

$1,894

$24,920,000

With its $18 million opening, ‘Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones’ has already more than paid for itself and a decent chunk of whatever it cost to market it. It’ll be fine. Sure, it’s a far cry from some of the other openings in the franchise (and it’s low compared to January horror offerings in past years), but it’s not an embarrassing or disastrous number. It’s just disappointing.

What’s not disappointing is the film that beat it for the number one spot. Disney’s ‘Frozen‘ had a strong opening back in November, but it has showcased legs that are, for the lack of a better description, just plain absurd. After being in theaters for two months, the film not only climbed back to the top of the box office charts, it did so with $20 million, bringing its grand total to $297 million. If it continues playing this strong, it could very well dethrone ‘Despicable Me 2′ as the highest grossing animated film released in 2013 (although that will still be a bit of a trek). In any case, ‘Frozen’ has essentially guaranteed its place as one of the most successful films in Disney animation’s history and that’s nothing to scoff at. People love this movie and the box office reflects that.

In third place, ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug‘ grossed $16 million for a $229 million total. Those numbers aren’t disastrous, but they’re certainly not great. At this rate, it’s looking like this will be the lowest grossing of Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth movies, with $300 million currently looking like a longshot.

In fourth place, ‘The Wolf of Wall Street‘ took a small dip to $13 million, bringing its total gross to $63 million. Those are decent numbers, but the film’s momentum is going to start slowing down if awards buzz doesn’t start kicking into overdrive. The big question now is whether or not it has the endurance to get to $100 million. Right below it, ‘American Hustle‘ (the warm, fuzzy yin to ‘Wolf’s yang) grossed $13 million for an $88 million total. It should hit $100 million next week, getting there even faster than director David O. Russell’s ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ did last year.

In sixth place, ‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’ crossed the $100 million mark with an $11 million weekend, achieving a milestone the original missed by nearly $20 million. Below that, ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ continued performing decently if not spectacularly, and ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ continued to underperform in every way.

And finally, ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ is less than $2 million away from dethroning ‘Iron Man 3′ as the highest grossing 2013 release. That’ll happen in the next few days.

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